Imagery Data Reveals Initial Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Currently Near the Texas Coast.
US personnel roped onto the deck of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and ship tracking data has verified that the crude carrier named Skipper – the first vessel seized by the US for allegedly carrying embargoed oil from Venezuela – is now positioned near of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the tanker is in the vicinity of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently places the vessel about 50 miles offshore.
The Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on 10 December and has been blacklisted by multiple governments. At the time it was seized, it was falsely sailing under the flag of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the capture of a second tanker, the Centuries. It – unlike the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under American control.
American agencies are currently pursuing a third vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1. The US President said yesterday that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of fuel remaining unless her velocity drops”.
The group further stated the vessel is “probably heading south-east towards the South African coast”.
